What do we mean to each other?

SPECIAL CHAPTER

Eros (Part 1)

14 February 2019


A/N: This will be a two-part release. This is my first fic to write a story for the Valentine's Day theme. This is rather long compared to my previous releases. Enjoy. Tell me what you think :)


"I'll be waiting by the gate," was the message he heard from the other line. The message was very short, but the urgency could be heard clearly. Fuji stared at his phone and then walked towards Kikumaru.

Turning to Kikumaru seated beside him, he blurted out, "I'll go out for a while."

Kikumaru was still sleepy, but he asked, "Where to? The first period hasn't started yet."

"This won't take long," Fuji said. He stood up and walked towards the door. Kikumaru stood beside the window and after several minutes, he saw Fuji emerged out of the building.

The sky is blue outside. Despite this, the weather is cold. His gaze followed Fuji until he saw him meeting someone by the main gate. The person looked like a man, but he couldn't see clearly, thus, he could not ascertain. He wore a uniform from another school. "Is that a Shitenhouji uniform?" He noticed that he handed Fuji a small package. It was a small red box tied with a bright red ribbon. From his vantage point, it seemed like Fuji have refused to accept the package. "Why would someone give him a gift?" Just then, he realized that today was Valentine's Day.

Several minutes passed and he saw Fuji finally accepted the small package. He bid his farewell and saw him walk towards the building. "Fuji, you're a traitor," he said to himself. However, a grin is evident on his face.

When Fuji entered the classroom, he immediately noticed Kikumaru's teasing gaze. He looked at Kikumaru who eyed the small package he was holding. Fuji tried to hide his embarrassment, as if he was a child who got caught doing something bad. When he sat beside Kikumaru, he whispered, "I'll explain later."


"What? Why are we even not allowed to attend the Valentine's Day trip just because we are not regular players?" complained Horio.

He and Echizen were walking the cafeteria to have lunch. "You've asked that question since last week. I don't know. Ask the seniors," Echizen answered back.

Horio turned to Echizen. "You're saying that because you are part of the trip. You are still a first year, but you are already a regular player. How about other first years like us who wanted to go, but were not allowed, simply because we are not regular players," he pouted.

"Cheer up, at least you have a free time to spend this day with someone you like, or give chocolates, something like that," Echizen answered in order to comfort him.

Horio blushed a little. "Hmmp. I'd still prefer to spend this day with the rest of the team."

"Don't worry. I'll tell you everything once we get back," he said in a cheerful manner.

At six in the evening, all the Seigaku regulars gathered in the side court. They just finished the training and were still wearing their uniform. Valentine's Day is considered a day of tradition for the Seigaku Tennis Club. This is the time when the team spends a night outside of Tokyo. This is a team activity started by the previous seniors, and only regulars were allowed to attend. Out of respect, Coach Ryuzaki did not participate. This was also part of the tradition.

"Where are we going?" asked Momoshiro to no one in particular.

"We are going by train to Shizuoka prefecture," Oishi answered.

Tezuka turned to the younger players. "First years are in-charge of tidying up the court. The rest, let's head to the train station."

"Yes Captain!" the first year answered in chorus.

Tezuka led the way. He walked ahead together with Oishi. The rest of the regular players followed behind.

During the entire time, Echizen had been curious about the tradition. He asked Momoshiro a lot of questions, but couldn't get an answer. It was then that the others joined the conversation.

"Well, this actually my first time," commented Momoshiro. He could not hide his excitement.

"How about Kaido-sempai and Inui-sempai?" asked Echizen looking at each of them.

Inui suppressed an ominous grin. "You'll find out eventually. We hate to spoil you, isn't it right, Kaido?" he answered, giving a side glance towards Kaido. Kaido's body stiffened as if remembering a bad dream.

Kawamura put his arms around Echizen and Momoshiro. "Don't worry. I'll assure you, this will be a lot of fun."

A couple of steps ahead of them, Kikumaru whispered to Fuji, "Did you receive a Valentine's gift?" He had been meaning to ask this question since morning. Fuji just nodded his head in agreement. Kikumura's eyes sparkled.

The team arrived at the train station. At 7:30 in the evening, they found themselves in a simple bamboo inn, nestled quietly beside an open field. Several trees stood beside the inn. A small hot spring was on the other side of the inn. There are about five inns, finely separated from each other.

"What a serene place," commented Kikumaru.

Oishi smiled, "Glad you liked it. I hope the rest will love it. Captain Tezuka and I did our best to look for this place. Since we still have classes tomorrow, we made some few considerations. It should be a quiet place, secluded enough for us to hold our tradition, and that is should be close to Tokyo. Oishi went to the inn owner and exchanged a few words.

When the team entered the inn, they were greeted by its simplicity. Captain Tezuka spoke first, "Our first order of the night is to take a bath. There are hot showers. Those who preferred to bath in the hot spring outside amidst the cool weather may opt to as they wish. After relaxing our body, we'll take our dinner. After which, we will proceed with the traditional Valentine's activity. Please be guided accordingly."

"Further, just like last time, there will be one big room. Kindly put your things in one side," it was Inui who gave the instruction.

After taking a bath and getting their fill for the night, Tezuka instructed the group to sit and form one big circle inside the room. He glanced at Oishi and Kikumaru. Oishi nodded and took out two boxes and a wooden cylinder. The first box was covered in a bamboo design, while the other is painted with a cloud pattern. The wooden cylinder has a very small opening at the top.

Except for Momoshiro and Echizen, everyone was not surprised. "This year, our traditional Valentine's Day activity begins. We will follow the rules just like the old times." The tradition has been started five years ago.

"Rules?" Echizen asked, astonished. "Are we playing a game?"

Tezuka remained still, but continued, "For first timers, you might be wondering why we have a traditional Valentine's Day celebration, which is only open for the regular players. It's very simple actually. One needs to work hard to reap the rewards, whether playing solo or in doubles. Joining this celebration is just an extra reward." He gestured to Kikumaru and the other understood immediately. "Kikumaru, would you care to explain the details."

Kikumaru took the wooden cylinder from Oishi. He shook the wooden cylinder and a clang of metallic chips could be heard. He laid out the contents of the cylinder to the floor. From there, he picked up six metallic chips in six different colors: red, black, white, blue, purple and green. Before he could start, they heard Momoshiro asked a question, "Then why do this during Valentine's Day?"

"It's not like you have a date, right?" asked Kikumaru. Momoshiro gave a short glance towards Echizen and the two blushed a little.

Kikumaru chuckled, "Hmm, anyway, I also have a date." It was Oishi's turned to blush. "Unlike me, not all of the regulars have one though," he shot a teasing look towards Kawamura, Inui and Kaido. The three let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, we aren't like Fuji and Captain Tezuka, who were always being confessed to or were given chocolates, and maybe even the other seniors before us," countered Inui.

"To prevent these awkward teasing, our previous seniors thought about how to address this concern and they finally came up with the game." Kawamura answered casually.

Momoshiro chuckled, "how considerate of them. I bet these seniors were really ugly that no one even bothered to date them."

Tezuka adjusted his glasses. "Continue with the rules Kikumaru."

Kikumaru began in a very serious tone. The tone one use when telling about a scary story. "Okay. In simple terms, this is the club's version of the truth and dare game. As you can see, there are six chips in the cylinder. Each of us has to draw a chip and then performs the task written on the piece of paper inside the bamboo box," he pointed at the box and continued, "or answer the question in the other box," he said while pointing to the box covered in the cloud design. "White chip means truth, black means dare, blue means you pick a person to pass a dare, purple means you pick a person to answer the question for you. Green and red are special chips because this gives you the power to ask a question or give a dare to a person of your choice. They are very limited compared to the rest. Green means you can ask a question and red means you can give the command. Only one question or one dare. Once uttered, it can never be changed, so be very careful with the words you are going to use."

"There are so many colors. Why not just let a random person asked a question or put up a dare?" Echizen asked in wonder. His eyes were fixed to the chips spread over the floor.

"Wouldn't you find that boring?" answered Momoshiro confidently. Though he himself doesn't have an experience about the game.

"There is also the immunity stone." It was Kaido who spoke this time.

"This is getting interesting," Echizen said with a smile.

"When a person is given an immunity stone, he is exempted from answering questions or doing dares if he picks the white or black chip. He's also exempted from being passed a question or a dare if somebody picks up the blue or purple chip. Finally, he could not be selected directly if someone picks up the green or red chip."

"He's basically invincible, right? How do we get an immunity stone?" asked Echizen, his excitement is now beginning to show, but only shattered after a while.

"This is being determined in advance. Whoever received the most numerous written confessions the previous year will be given the immunity stone. It is just a simple way to determine the most popular among us," Kawamura answered.

"Isn't that easy to fake?" asked a surprised Momoshiro.

"Oh, the letter should be signed. Anonymous letters are not considered." Oishi answered.

"So this year, who holds the immunity stone?" asked Echizen. He expected that Captain Tezuka is the most popular tennis player at Seigaku. To his amazement, everyone looked at Fuji. Fuji smiled and waved a little. He brought out a small jade stone from his pocket.

Tezuka, who remained silent, spoke this time."However, there is a way to reverse the power of the immunity stone." All eyes were fixed to him. "One must not accept a chocolate or any form of Valentine's Day gift on the actual day itself."

"Huh? But I thought that the holder of the immunity stone is determined by the number of signed love letters." Though after some time,Momoshiro added, "Oh. I get it. Do you mean that we should not accept any form of gift, right? But an admirer could let it slipped through putting it on your locker, table or bag. Am I right?" asked Momoshiro with a grin.

"Yeah, that's correct," Kikumaru answered, then shifted his gaze towards Fuji. Fuji finally stood up and put the jade stone in the middle of the circle, to everyone's surprise.

"Fuji-sempai, did you accept a Valentine's gift? If a person's accept a gift, then that means that the person accepts the confession right?" asked an innocent-looking Kaido.

"That's right. I even refused Kikumaru's chocolates because of this rule," answered Oishi in a defeated voice.

"Ah, wait, but aren't there only one immunity stone?" asked Echizen.

"Yeah, but accepting a confession, be it in the form of a chocolate, a love letter or any other gift is a grave violation of the game. Thus, a person who violates this rule will have all his privileges taken back if he has the immunity stone, or he will face the consequences: he needs to answer three questions, performs three dares, drink three glasses of Inui's juice and take out three pieces of clothing." Oishi laughed. "The consequences are too much. Really."

Kikumaru pouted, but still continued, "You couldn't do that for me. Jeez, but I just saw Fuji received a gift from a Shitenhouji student." At the mentioned of Shitenhouji, Tezuka felt like his blood has turned into ice. Shivers run down his spine, giving him a cold chill.

"This is getting more interesting," Inui interjected.

"What If I refused to drink or do the dare?" Echizen asked his final question.

Kawamura laughed really hard, "You simply took another glass of Inui's juice, and take three pieces of clothing. Considering how Momoshiro and you are dressed, you could only afford to make a single pass."

Echizen stared at them. Except him and Momoshiro, everyone was wearing a jacket, a pair of socks and who knows how many layers of clothes and underpants. "You've tricked us."

Kawamura laughed harder. "Don't worry kid. We were all tricked the first time."

"One more else, before we start the game, each one is required to drink a glass of my concoction. To make it fair, Fuji has prepared a concoction for me. You'll get an extra cup if you spill the contents. The game starts once we drink our fill." Inui answered with a big grin. He took a big liquid container from his backpack. He spread the stacked glasses which he requested a while ago and emptied the contents of the container into the glasses. He passed each glass to one member. The juice is a shade of deep purple and bubble formed at the top, which reminded them of a hazardous material.

At the same time, Fuji also took a tumbler from his backpack. The transparent tumbler contained a vivid green liquid.

When everyone was given a glass, Tezuka raised his own and said, "let the game begins." Everyone raised their glass. Expecting the horrible aftertaste, they responded with a sour face "Cheers!" Contrary to their expectation, the taste was a treat to their taste buds.#